Tag: Minnesota Twins (Page 2 of 11)

      The Twins were finished before they got to Yankee Stadium on Saturday

      October 10, 2010 /
      Minnesota Twins' Nick Punto (L) and Jim Thome look out from their dugout late in Game 3 against the New York Yankees in their MLB American League Divison Series baseball playoffs in New York October 9, 2010. REUTERS/Ray Stubblebine (UNITED STATES - Tags: SPORT BASEBALL)

      I witnessed one of the stranger sights on Thursday night after Game 2 of the ALDS between the Yankees and Twins.

      There some of the Twins were immediately after the game, hanging out at the top step of the dugout watching the Yankees congratulate themselves after their Game 2 win. It was the same scene you see when a team is officially eliminated from a playoff series, yet Minnesota hadn’t been eliminated yet. It was almost like they knew the series was already over and there was no point heading to New York for Game 3.

      Well, now the series is officially over, as the Yankees beat the Twins 6-1 on Saturday night. Phil Hughes pitched seven scoreless frames while allowing just four hits and striking out six batters. Kerry Wood crapped on the party by giving up a run in the eighth, but at that point the game was pretty much in the bag for New York.

      Getting back to the Twins, maybe I’m overacting a little but it seemed to me that they believed the series was over on Thursday. That’s probably not right to say that about all of their players, but after the club’s effort last night, it’s hard to argue that they weren’t out of it mentally.

      Of course, it’s not like Yankee Stadium is an easy place to play and I don’t want to take anything away from Hughes’ gem. If the Twins’ heads weren’t in it, give the Yankees credit for taking advantage of the situation and not wasting any time putting Minnesota out of its misery. Now they can rest up (which is huge for an older team) and wait to see who emerges from the other ALDS series.

      External Sports, MLB

      Yankees’ postseason experience shines in Game 1 of ALDS

      October 7, 2010 /
      New York Yankees' Mark Teixeira hits a two-run home run against the Minnesota Twins during the seventh inning of Game 1 of their MLB American League Divison Series baseball playoffs in Minneapolis, Minnesota, October 6, 2010. REUTERS/Andy King (UNITED STATES - Tags: SPORT BASEBALL)

      The Yankees entered the playoffs losers of eight of their last 11 games. But no matter how much they’ve struggled or how many chinks in the armor they may have shown, this is still their time of year.

      For five innings Wednesday night, the Yankees were making Twins’ starter Francisco Liriano look like Cy Young. They trailed 3-0 in the top of the sixth, but after Nick Swisher struck out swinging to start the inning, Mark Teixeira doubled to deep left, Alex Rodriguez walked and then Teixeira scored on a Robinson Cano single to right.

      After Marcus Thames struck out, Jorge Posada lined a single to right to score A-Rod and move Cano to second. Curtis Granderson delivered the big blow by tripling off the wall in deep right center to score Cano and Posada to give the Yankees a 4-3 lead.

      They never trailed after that.

      The Twins scratched across a run in their half of the inning, but Teixeira blasted a 355-foot home run in the top of 7th to give the Yankees a 6-4 lead. After allowing two base runners to reach in the ninth, Mariano Rivera got Jim Thome to pop out to third to end the game and give New York a 6-4 victory.

      This is the time of year when the Yankees are never out of any game. They may have showed their age throughout the regular season, but there’s no replacement for postseason experience. When the stakes are high, this is when the Bombers are at their best.

      Of course, this is still a team that’s going to struggle to win it all. Their pitching is a major concern and Joe Girardi’s stomach must have been in knots watching his ace C.C. Sabathia struggle in the early innings last night before finally settling in. He’s supposed to be the rock of the rotation and if he struggles, then the Yanks are doomed.

      Game 2 is set for tonight at 6:07PM ET, as Andy Pettitte will take on former Yankee Carl Pavano.

      External Sports, MLB

      Mikey’s MLB power rankings

      September 4, 2010 /

      The Yankees just keep winning, and suddenly the Padres keep losing, sitting with an 8-game losing streak, but still clinging to a three-game lead over the Giants. We may wind up with very few pennant races, but we are likely to have lots of new match-ups in the postseason this year. For that, I’m excited. And let me go out on a limb here. Watch out for the Rockies. They have this knack for winning 98% of their games in September and climbing fast in the standings.

      1. New York Yankees (85-50)—They haven’t lost since I did my last rankings. The Rays caught up, but then the Yanks jumped back out to a 1.5-game lead. I know I’ve been high on the Rays, but the Yankees ain’t gonna fold. And CC for Cy Young?

      2. Tampa Bay Rays (83-51)—With a 7-game lead in the wild card, that’s got to be what the Rays are gunning for. And they’d have to suffer a major collapse for that to happen at this point.

      3. Cincinnati Red (78-56)—No longer a flash in the pan, the Reds are not just for real, they are striking fear in every other MLB team. How about the addition of Aroldis Chapman? Did anyone thing he would be helping this team in a pennant race in September?

      4. Minnesota Twins (78-57)—The White Sox have Manny Ramirez now, but that won’t stop the Twins from pulling away this month.

      5. Atlanta Braves (78-57)—Hanging tough as the Phillies make a charge. This could be one division race worth biting your nails over.

      6. San Diego Padres (76-57)—Speaking of biting nails, how are you Padres’ fans feeling these days? Yikes.

      7. Texas Rangers (75-59)—Now with a 9-game lead, Nolan Ryan can print those playoff tickets.

      8. Philadelphia Phillies (77-58)—This team has caught fire at the right time, and we all knew they had it in them. One game back, and the Braves could wind up missing the postseason entirely after a great year.

      9. Boston Red Sox (76-58)—A good season, and they’d be in the divisional hunt in every other division but the AL East.

      10. San Francisco Giants (74-61)—With the Padres losing 8 in a row, the Giants have still not been able to capitalize. And now they trail the Phillies by 3 games in the wild card hunt.

      External Sports, MLB

      Mikey’s MLB power rankings

      August 28, 2010 /

      Wow, things are getting wild. The Rays and Yanks are now tied for first in the AL East, and the Red Sox are not going away. The Padres have a commanding 6-game lead. The Braves have lost four straight, but the Phils could not capitalize. The Reds are hot and the Cards are not. The Twins and Rangers have not been hurt by recent mediocre play. So there you have it, and here you have your power rankings….

      1. New York Yankees (78-50)—It was only a matter of time before the Rays caught up, but until Tampa goes ahead in the standings, the Bombers are still the team to beat.

      2. Tampa Bay Rays (78-50)—Joe Maddon’s team sure doesn’t mess around, do they?

      3. San Diego Padres (76-51)—If you keep waiting for the Padres to come back down to earth, you’re going to be waiting until possibly November.

      4. Minnesota Twins (74-55)—Watch out for this team in the postseason. All of a sudden, with Brian Fuentes and Matt Capps, they have a pretty sick bullpen. Joe Nathan who?

      5. Texas Rangers (73-55)—Josh Hamilton has an excellent shot at the triple crown, and this lineup has to send shivers through the collective spine of the Yankees’ pitching staff.

      6. Cincinnati Red (74-54)—Speaking of triple crown, how about Joey Freaking Votto?

      7. Atlanta Braves (73-55)—They can’t sustain losing streaks at this point in the season, but are still hanging tough.

      8. Boston Red Sox (74-55)—In what other division can you be 19 games over .500 and in THIRD place?

      9. Philadelphia Phillies (71-57)—They had their chance to close the gap this past week, and blew it.

      10. San Francisco Giants (71-58)—Lots of talent, but can they put it all together? P.S. What is wrong with Tim Lincecum?

      External Sports, MLB

      Mikey’s MLB power rankings

      August 21, 2010 /

      With football season upon us, that’s when baseball gets real interesting. To me, there is no better time of year than that first weekend in October when you have four MLB playoff series and a full slate of NFL games. As for the pennant races, they’re starting to shift and some teams are beginning to pull away while others lose hold on their position…

      1. New York Yankees (75-47)—A one-game lead but the Mariners are in town this weekend, so it’s as good a time as any to start padding the margin over the Rays and Sox again.

      2. Tampa Bay Rays (74-48)—Still hanging on, as the Yankees continue to look in their collective rear-view mirror.

      3. San Diego Padres (73-48)—The Giants had their five-game winning streak, and the Padres answered with one of their own, widening their late August lead to 6 games over the G-men until losing last night. Is there any question about manager of the year here?

      4. Atlanta Braves (72-50)—Bobby Cox hopes his team will feast on Cubs’ pitching at Wrigley while the Phils face the Nats at home.

      5. Texas Rangers (68-53)—The Rangers lost four in a row this past week but still have a seven-game lead over the A’s and Angels. I’d say they have nothing to worry about.

      6. Minnesota Twins (71-51)—As we suspected, the Twins keep adding to their lead, now 4.5 games over the White Sox.

      7. Cincinnati Red (71-51)—Just when the Cardinals made a statement, the Reds have now won 7 in a row while St. Louis has lost 5 straight, giving Dusty Baker’s boys a 4.5 game lead and increasing the chances Brandon Phillips will start smack-talking again, if he hasn’t already.

      8. Boston Red Sox (69-54)—Time is running out on the Sox, and also on Roger Clemens’ days as a free man.

      9. Philadelphia Phillies (69-52)—They’ve stayed hot, but so have the Braves. Do you think the Phils wish they still had Cliff Lee?

      10. San Francisco Giants (69-54)—Only trailing Philly in the wild card chase by one game, two in the loss column. But a recent slide took them out of that spot and their hopes of a division crown are fading away.

      External Sports, MLB

      « Older posts Newer posts »

      © 2026 The Scores Report – The National Sports Blog

      Theme by Anders Noren — Up ↑